McCall's 5857 - Shorts! and Future Projects

I decided to take a break from the BWOF 9-2005-129 pants because of a heat wave we are currently experiencing in the San Francisco Bay area. One item that is lacking from my wardrobe are shorts. I stopped wearing them several years ago for no particular reason. Temperatures are supposed to reach the upper nineties in the next few days (and I live on the Peninsula, so it's going to be hotter than living in SF). After spending close to three weeks away from work, I have grown tired of wearing yoga pants all the time. Note: the pants made from KwikSew 3115 or 2723 -- the shorts lengthened to capri pants. With this heatwave, shorts are a good idea.

I pulled this pattern out of my stash and I decided to make view C (the longer shorts without the cuffs). For my first pair, I tissue-fitted (re: Pants for Real People) and compared the front and back crotch lines to the Burda pants. I added inches along the front and back crotch line, grading up along the inseam. I need to find out if there is some formula about adding inches to the crotchline: if you add 1-2 inches along the crotchline, how far down do you go along the inseam? 5 inches? 6 inches? I've just been eyeballing it and guessing, but if there is a rule of thumb, I'd appreciate hearing it. I'll take another look at Real Pants for Real People to find out if I missed this detail.

I have made two pairs of shorts: one from a navy blue plaid seersucker (when I wear these, I feel like I'm stolen my dad's boxer shorts) and a brown pinstriped mystery fabric. Both are from Fabrix in SF, the plaid bought years ago. Each pair of shorts took a yard and 1/8 of 60 inch width fabric. I'm getting better at fitting--the fabric hangs very well and nothing seems to be pulling. I do need to work on fitting waistbands --I'm allowing too much length and I'm getting gaps in the back. I can wear a belt with this pattern, so practically speaking this problem is taken care of, but it's one more item that I'd like to add to my skill list.

The pattern does go together very nicely! After tracing my Burda patterns, it's very nice to be able to cut pattern tissue and not add seam allowances. I usually add seam allowances when I'm cutting out my fabric. I use shears and my cutting table is a foldable cardboard surface that I lay out on my carpet. I'll be honest, the seam allowances are probably not even. But when I use a pattern that I purchased on sale from J's, I don't have to worry about tracing or seam allowances, so it's one less thing to set this awry. In any case, the hip pockets and front hip yokes line up very well. Wow. All together it's taken be about a day to sew each pair of shorts, If I pushed it, I probably could finish one pair in day. Thanks to my experiences with different pants patterns I feel very comfortable sewing yoke pockets and doing a fly zipper. I'm so glad I have a large stash of everything.

Future projects: I want to work on is Vogue 8555, a dress (view A, with the sleeves and pegged skirt). I have several pieces of cotton sateen that would be suitable for this dress. If I choose the right fabrics and colors, I should be able to wear this into late autumn. Because of the construction, I definitely need to make a muslin.

Line Drawings below:

I also want to make BWOF 05-2009-110. I've seen several really nice versions of this top: Michelle at Cheap and Picky (see the posts from September 2009) has been working with this pattern and I have gotten some good ideas. Thank you, Michelle!

Question: if you do not have a photographer on site, how are you taking pictures of your finished garments: I can do a hanger photograph, I can put blouses and dresses on my mannequin, but pants seem to need a fashion shot. I've figured out how to use the self-timer on my camera, but the pictures seem very blah... any suggestions?